The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

I'm from Oklahoma City. I know the Flaming Lips from before She Don't Use Jelly actually propelled them into the mainstream on MTV (tonight's album simply bouyed them well above one hit wonder status). I've seen them so many times in concert, opening for Smashing Pumpkins, headlining with Liz Phair and Starlight Mints, etc. Next time we're back in my hometown i'll drive you past Wayne Coyne's houses (where his infamous front yard bathtub google maps photo happened). My CD of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots has been missing for a long time (it's probably stuck in the busted cd changer in my car along with Queens of the Stone Age's Villians, and some other gems).

Luckily i found it on vinyl, and i couldn't be happier. Unluckily, the estate of Cat Stevens cried copyright infringement and the Lips still give them a big chunk of royalties from Fight Test (no comment, the most pointed comment of all 'cause Wayne knew they'd bitch and just settled as quickly as possible, but like Cat Stevens needs The Flaming Lips's money).

Wayne says it's not a concept album, the Yoshimi part is literally Japanese multi-instrumentalist Yoshimi P-We (who he thought sounded like she was battling robots, and that's her doing the background talking), but it's actually two concept albums in one. He loses his girl to a robot programmed for empathy, wishes someone could protect him from those evil robots, but then realizes he was the robot who didn't know the difference between love and hate and has to learn to love himself when he escapes the end of the world in a hot air balloon to Mars, 'cause Japan. No, he didn't write it that way, but that's the cool thing about narrative action: it builds itself whether you intended it or not (you haven't been reading your Barthes homework, have you?). Come to think of it, Eddie Vedder famously accepted the fan interpretation of Alive, stating that what he intended when he wrote it clearly isn't how people understand it so he's wrong (what's the Pearl Jam reference count so far?). Maybe i should go back and give you my actual reading of Aeroplane; some other time.

This is an astonishing blend of computer manipulated acoustic guitars and synths and strange trippy rock music. It's weird, but it's incredible, and one of my all time favorite albums. They experimented with a surround sound mix as a bonus DVD (which i still have), but were completely underwhelmed by the result. It's plenty good enough on its own. Go out and realize how beautiful you actually are, and try to make the best of now.

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